Other Countries

After 1981, PNDC foreign policy was designed to promote the country's
economic growth and well-being by establishing friendly relations and
cooperation with all countries irrespective of their economic and
political philosophies or ideological orientation. PNDC policy also
sought new markets for Ghana's exports, the expansion of existing
markets, and new investment opportunities.

Ghana's relations with Canada were quite good under the PNDC, as were
Ghana's relations with the European Community and its member countries.
In 1987, as part of its cancellation of the debts of several African
countries, Canada canceled a Ghanaian debt of US$77.6 million. In 1989
Germany canceled US$295 million of Ghana's foreign debt, and France
canceled US$26 million.

A number of Western countries, including France and Canada, continued
to cancel debts in 1991, reflecting the generally cordial relations
between Ghana and Western countries and the confidence the West had in
PNDC policies. In early July 1991, Rawlings paid a three-day official
visit to Paris, which symbolized the close ties that had developed
between the PNDC and the French government. Western countries have
continued to show keen interest in, and support for, the ERP and Ghana's
transition to democratic government.

In line with its commitment to the principles of nonalignment, the
PNDC sought to develop close relations with the socialist regimes in
Eastern Europe, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North
Korea), and China. In the early days of PNDC rule, Rawlings made
official visits to China and Ethiopia, the latter then headed by a
Marxist-Leninist regime.

During these visits, various economic, trade, and cultural agreements
were concluded. Notable was the PNDC agreement with the German
Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) for the improvement of roads
in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city, and for the Kumasi-Accra
highway. The GDR also supplied Ghana with new railroad coaches. Barter
trade with East European countries, especially the GDR, Romania, and
Bulgaria, also increased. The PNDC established a State Committee for
Economic Cooperation to ensure more effective cooperation with socialist
countries and showed keen interest in developing relations with the
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.

The PNDC policy of restructuring Ghana's education system, moving
from purely academic curricula to vocational and technical training,
benefited from Ghana's close ties with socialist countries, notably
Cuba. By 1985 Cuba was training some 1,000 Ghanaian school children and
middle-level technicians. Cuba also offered Ghanaians training in
political leadership for "revolutionary organs" and national
security. Hundreds of Ghanaian youths left for various socialist
countries to pursue professional and technical courses. The Soviet
Union, China, and other socialist countries awarded scholarships to
Ghanaians for both academic and technical courses. In addition,
short-term training was offered for Ghana's Committees for the Defence
of the Revolution. Bulgaria provided training in political organization
and leadership, and the Soviet Union furnished education in medicine,
veterinary sciences, and engineering.

The PNDC believed that Cuba provided a fruitful field for cooperation
in areas other than education. The PNDC agreed to a joint commission for
economic cooperation and signed a number of scientific and technical
agreements with Cuba ranging from cultural exchanges to cooperation in
such fields as health, agriculture, and education. Cuba trained Ghana's
national militia, gave advice in the creation of mass organizations such
as the CDRs, and provided military advisers and medical and security
officers for the PNDC leadership. The two countries also signed
agreements for the renovation of Ghana's sugar industry and for three
factories to produce construction materials. In 1985 Ghana and Cuba
signed their first barter agreement, followed by new trade protocols in
1987 and 1988. Cuban medical brigades worked in Tamale in the Northern
Region, one of the poorest areas in Ghana. Cubans coached Ghanaian
boxers and athletes and taught Spanish in Ghanaian schools.

Ghana's relations with Cuba continue to be strong despite Ghana's
return to multiparty democracy and the severe economic crisis in Cuba in
1993 and 1994. A joint commission for cooperation between the two
countries meets biennially in the alternate venues of Accra and Havana.
Cuba is helping to create a faculty of medical sciences in Ghana's new
University of Development Studies at Tamale. At the end of 1994, thirty-three medical
specialists were working in Ghanaian hospitals. A bilateral exchange of
technology and experts in mining and agriculture was also underway. Cuba
is training 600 Ghanaians, mostly in technical disciplines, including
engineering, architecture, and medicine. The two countries are engaged
in successful business ventures, too, including a first class tourist
resort at Ada in the Greater Accra Region and a Ghana-Cuba construction
company.

Economic relations between Ghana and Japan are quite cordial, having
improved considerably under the PNDC. Japan offered Ghana about US$680
million toward the rehabilitation of its telephone and television
services. Following the visit to Japan of a Ghanaian delegation in early
1987, Japan pledged a total of US$70 million toward Ghana's economic
development. In early 1994, Japan offered a further US$16.6 million to
modernize rail transport and to improve water supply. In October 1994,
Ghana joined in urging the UN Security Council to admit Japan and
Germany, two countries that in 1993 and 1994 were among Ghana's largest
aid donors, in recognition of the international political and economic
stature of both countries.

Ghana's relations with the Arab countries were also generally good
during the PNDC period, and they remained so under the new NDC
administration. Considerable economic assistance flowed into Ghana from
the Arab world. Ghana signed loan agreements with the Saudi Arabian Fund
for Development for various development projects in Ghana, including the
promotion of Islamic education. In early January 1994, loan agreements
totaling US$16.5 million from the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic
Development were signed to fund a thermal power plant at Takoradi.

Following the peace accord between Israel and the Palestine
Liberation Organization in September 1993, Ghana reestablished
diplomatic relations with Israel in August 1994. Diplomatic relations
between the two countries had been broken in 1973 in support of member
Arab states of the OAU who were at war with Israel. In urging resumption
of diplomatic ties, parliament noted that Ghana stood to gain access to
Israeli technology, notably in water engineering and irrigation,
sewerage construction, and agriculture.

Finally, in June 1994, a new Ghanaian ambassador presented his
credentials to Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow. At the time,
the Ghanaian government expressed its hope that democratic restructuring
in both Ghana and Russia and the advent of a market economy in Russia
would lead to new and diversified bilateral trade and economic
cooperation.